DIY Home Office Organisers

In an ideal world all us home workers would all have huge home offices, fabulously decorated and with loads of purpose-built storage. But hey, who are we kidding? Most of us don't have unlimited finances to create our space, and so work in a far smaller area than we'd really like, and things are kept wherever they fit most conveniently.

With small budgets this in mind, Rosalind Brookman has gathered a couple of ideas for some very easy-to-do DIY projects for home office organisation!

Desk Tidy

Gina Vasselli, a craft writer living in Myrtle Beach in the US, says 'If you are anything like the iHubbub team then your home office can sometimes turn in to a random collection of papers shoved into drawers and work mixed in with personal items or bills.

A good place to start with any home organisation project is making a home for all the clutter on your desk and around the room.

Cup shaped holders are a great place to keep all the change, pens, keys and other random things that accumulate on tables and counter tops. A bonus when you make them yourself is that you can decide how big or small they need to be, as well as what they look like.

To make these you’ll need:

A quarter yard of printed fabric, a quarter yard of canvas and a quarter yard of felt. You can buy the fabrics pretty cheaply online from stores like FabricStreet.

To make the larger cup-shaped holder you’ll need to cut:

a 6 ½ inch by 15 ½ inch strip from each fabric to make the side panel

a 5 inch circle to make the bottom.

to make the smaller holder you’ll need to cut

a 5 inch x 12 ½ inch strip from each fabric

a 4 inch circle for the bottom

1) Put your strips of fabric together with the print on the top and the felt on the bottom. Stitch across the top (the long side) and turn the print fabric over so it is facing the correct way. Put the ends of your strip of fabric together and stitch together down the short side to make a circle shaped strip.

2) Put your circles together with the print on the top and felt on the bottom. Stitch together to make one circle.

3) Place your side part and circles together with the right side facing inwards. Double stitch around the perimeter, clipping as needed to make it easier to keep the fabric together.

Ta-da - you should have a cup shaped holder now!

You can use these for pencils, pens or whatever. They also make for great homemade gifts for any home worker friends.

They look so cute - thanks Gina!

So, that's the top of your home office desk tidy, but what about the drawers? Are they a tangle of elastic bands, paper clips, glue sticks with the tops missing and those funny little metal file tag things? Then this next project is for you!

Drawer Organiser

Keeping the inside of your drawers in order can be achieved in three easy steps.

1. Get your wood and cut it to size

Measure the length, width and height of the drawer to determine the dimensions of each divider. (Each divider should be approximately 1/2 inch smaller than the height of the drawer to stop it catching ever time you open or shut the drawer.)

You can decide whether you want lots of small compartments to keep things in (i.e. you'll need more dividers), or larger ones for larger items (less dividers with more space inbetween them).

A quick trip down B&Q will get you some cheap plywood to cut up (or they might even cut it into the right size strips for you if you ask nicely!).

2. Cut slots into the wood

Once you've decided on the amount of individual compartments you want, lay the longer pieces of wood down the length of the drawers. With a pencil mark off where you want the dividers to go across them.

Use a jigsaw to cut 1/4 inch slots where your pencil marks are, halfway through the wood.

Now get the wood that will lay across the width of the drawers, and do the same with them - matching them up with the slots on the longer pieces.

3. Interlock the wood pieces

Use a small amount of wood glue in each slot, and then interlock the pieces together and leave it to dry. The joins should be firm when they're dry, but not rock solid, as the drawer will hold the framework in place.

Place it carefully in the drawer, and then start filling each compartment up in an orderly fashion!